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feedback on behavior

Also called: behavioral feedback, corrective feedback

A specific message about something a person did, its impact and what should happen next, given soon and in private when it is corrective. It describes actions, not character, and starts by asking for the person's view.

Feedback on behavior is a specific message about something a person did, what it led to and what should happen next. It describes actions a camera could record ("closed the ticket before the family confirmed the fix"), not traits ("careless", "slow", "doesn't care"). Labels about character make people defend who they are; a described behavior gives them something they can change.

A reliable shape: the behavior, then a question about how the person saw it, then the impact, then a next step you agree on, with a date to look again. Asking before concluding matters: there may be a reason you can't see, such as a deadline nobody told you about. Corrective feedback works best soon (within a few days, while both of you remember), in private, by voice or video, followed by a two-line written summary. Never in a team chat: tone gets lost and everyone watches.

Keep praise and correction apart. Wrapping a correction in compliments doesn't soften it: people learn to wait for the "but", the praise starts to sound like a warning, and they remember the wrong part. Give praise when it is earned, specific and on its own; give correction directly and kindly. And keep to the evidence: one case is one moment, so talk about that case; to say "this keeps happening", name several cases. A metric is not feedback either: "your reopen rate is high" doesn't tell anyone what to do differently, while the behavior behind the number does.

Example

In January 36 of the 379 tickets Taras closed at Klasna were reopened by families: 36 ÷ 379 = 9.50%. "Your reopen rate is 9.50%" is a number, not feedback. The lead reads all 36 first:

Cause
Reopens
Share
Answered only the first question in the message
15
41.67%
Didn't check the account
8
22.22%
Closed before the fix was confirmed
4
11.11%
New question from the family
5
13.89%
Platform fault came back
4
11.11%

Three repeatable shortcuts explain 15 + 8 + 4 = 27 reopens (75%). The other 9 aren't Taras's doing: without the shortcuts his January rate would be 9 ÷ 379 = 2.37%, below Olha's 4.09%. That matters for fairness.

The conversation, in private on a call: behavior: "In January, 15 of your tickets came back because the reply answered only the first question in the family's message." His view: "How do those tickets look from your side?" Impact: 20 of the 36 reopens (55.56%) landed on a teammate's shift, with 51 of the 88 extra replies. Next step: before closing, reread the family's message and answer every question; look at February's reopens together in two weeks.

Common mistakes

  • Labels instead of behavior. "Careless" starts a defense of character; "closed before the family confirmed the fix" starts a conversation.
  • Handing over a number. A metric says that something is off, not what to do; find the behavior behind it first.
  • Wrapping it in praise. People wait for the "but" and remember the wrong part; praise separately and specifically.
  • Waiting, or going public. Feedback saved for the review season or given in the team chat comes too late or in front of an audience.
  • Concluding before asking. Ask how the person saw it, and separate what they control (shortcuts) from what they don't (platform faults).

Learn it in the course